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A naturalistic study of prospective memory function in MCI and dementia
Author(s) -
Thompson Claire L.,
Henry Julie D.,
Withall Adrienne,
Rendell Peter G.,
Brodaty Henry
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.2010.02004.x
Subject(s) - psychology , prospective memory , dementia , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , cognition , medicine , disease
Objective. Naturalistic measures of prospective memory (PM) show less age‐related decline than laboratory measures. We investigated whether a naturalistic measure of PM differentiates between normal ageing, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia. Method. Ninety‐eight older adults agreed to perform a time‐based PM task in their everyday lives. Results. Despite a self‐selection bias in task acceptance, dementia participants performed more poorly relative to both the MCI and control group. Performance on the naturalistic PM task showed good convergent validity with both a cognitive screening measure and a laboratory PM assessment. Conclusions. PM difficulties are experienced in the everyday lives of people with dementia and are related to laboratory‐based assessments but do not appear to be evident on a naturalistic task for those with MCI.